Scotland on Sunday has a fascinating article on Britain's identidy crisis and what to do about it.
Ministers are also consulting on plans to copy citizenship ceremonies in Australia and Canada, where citizens are encouraged to take part in ceremonies pledging their allegiance to their country.
Among the plans under consideration is a "rite of passage" plan in which all 18-year-olds would be forced to take part in a ceremony marking the fact that they are able to vote.
But the ceremonies are likely to be resisted by some young Britons, who are naturally wary of what they regard as flag-waving patriotism.
"Naturally wary" of "flag-waving patriotism"?? What's natural about it? And what's wrong with flag-waving patriotism? Britian has been allowed to be cowered into feeling guilty about her past and to ignore her great achievements by the PC brigade and Muslims who want an Islamic state in Britain. This is why Muslim terrorist see Britain as ripe for attack and take over.
The debate over Britishness has long been a fraught one. It is best summed up by the anger which is still felt, 15 years on, following Norman Tebbit's infamous "cricket test" which declared that only those 'Britons' who backed England over their ancestral homes in Pakistan, India and the West Indies could genuinely be described as British.
Why the anger? Tebbit is right. If you come to Britain and take British citizenship, you owe allegiance and all that entails to Britain, you're new home, and not your ancestral home. If you later find Britain not to your liking, you can renounce your British citizenship and return to you ancestral home. There is nothing racist about that. You owe your allegiance to the country where you have pledged it by taking citizenship in that country.
I'm an American living in Britain, I wish to remain American and will not seek British citizenship. It's a personal choice. I love it here in Britain having moved back in 2000 with my wife and 3 children but I will always remain an American - born and bred. If war were to break out between America and Britain I would move my family back to the US. There is nothing wrong with that - it's called patriotism. While here I obey the laws, pay my taxes, try to fit into British society as much as possible and make contributions to society - especially at the pub.
Quelled by political correctness and a sense of embarrassment of British history, the government has instead focused on celebrating the 'diversity' within British society, rather than emphasising Britain itself.
You can have both but Britain absolutely must come first otherwise the whole enterprise falls apart as we are seeing.
"We are celebrating separateness and that is a real problem. It means we haven't found a way of celebrating Britishness across the divide."
Rachel Briggs, the head of international programmes at the think tank, Demos, adds: "There has to be a personal sense of attachment to Britain. If we don't get that right you could employ as many police officers as you like but you will still have communities that feel excluded and marginalised."
My head is spinning as I read such things. How many times have I, as an American, felt anger when I've seen America derided in the British press for flag-waving patriotism, our celebration of Thanksgiving but most off all the scorn heaped on America for its most celebrated holiday of all - The Fourth of July. The Fourth of July celebrations are not to celebrate the victory over Britian, they celebrate freedom for all mankind. That's what we are taught and what we believe. Now to hear the call to be more like America fills one with pride. Yes, pride. We Americans are not afraid to be proud and Britain needs to be once again.
Where did America learn her patriotism from? Britain! Our history books are filled with stories of the great British Navy, the British empire and Britain's desire for freedom from tyranny.
It is a complicated task, made all the more difficult because of the nebulous concept of what exactly Britishness is, and by whether many people genuinely relate to it.
One recent poll, for example, found that only 27% of Scots said they were British, 35% of Welsh people and 48% of English. Even experts find it difficult to define what Britishness is about, often retreating to the negative. "It is not about being English, white or Christian," says Leonard.
No, no, no! It is most certainly not "a complicated task", there is no "nebulous concept of what Britishness is" and it is not difficult to define what Britishness is. If you're a British citizen you're British, full stop, as they say in Britain. The only thing Britain forgot to do was to celebrate that fact - to be proud - to wave the flag. Hell, in some council areas you are forbidden to fly the flag!!
This is not rocket science. I recently made some suggestions on how to start. All schools and government buildings should be required to fly the British and local flag, i.e. Scottish, English, etc. Those flags should be in every classroom and students should recite a pledge of allegiance to that flag every morning. People should be encouraged to fly their flag from their houses. Britain should celebrate an independance day.
"There has been a tendency in recent years to see any assertion of national identity as somehow jingoistic or not politically correct. The truth is that a clear national identity fosters the integration of ethnic and religious groups and gives them the opportunity to flourish and make their own significant contribution to society."
And for that we can thank the Left and people like the loathesome George Galloway. But more and more people are leaving the Left in droves.
He added: "The trouble is that we are embarrassed by it. It is not what we do.
"We get very apologetic about our culture. We need common values and we need things that pull us together.
"At the moment, we are nowhere near that position. We have spent so long explaining differences that we have forgotten that we also have to deal with commonalities."
How sad is that? Get over it - stiff upper lip and all that, old chap. Britain has let itself be cowered into this position by the Left and Muslims who want Britain to be an Islamic state.
It's high time Britain took back Britain. So, get out those flags, buy some bumber stickers and t-shirts with your countries flag on it - Britain belongs to Britain.
P.S. Notice that nowhere in the Scotsman's article does it even mention America. Wanting to be like America without admitting it, perhaps?
UPDATE
See this Times (UK) article for more plans Britain has for hyphenating Britons.
Then be sure to read or listen to this poem by John Wayne on that little word - the hyphen.
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